Controversy Hounds Project Linking DRC, Tanzania and Zambia

SATURDAY MAY 18 2024

A general view of Bwera town near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo in Uganda on June 14, 2019.

By JAMES ANYANZWA

US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) allegedly sacked an internal analyst in August last year for raising concerns over financing of a $100 million project to build and run a toll road and bridge in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia, which would have adverse effects on local communities.

Washington DC-based investigative firm Pogo (Project on Government Oversight) says that an analyst from the little-known US agency raised concerns that the project risked displacing nearly 10,000 people or more from DRC villages thereby violating DFC’s policy that “categorically” prohibits it from funding projects displacing 5,000 or more people.

After the analyst refused to sign off on the project, he was sacked, according to Pogo, a non-profit that investigates and works to expose waste, fraud, abuse, and conflicts of interest in the US federal government.

The project would help link cobalt mines in the Congo to the port of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.

This sacking is one of several recent alleged or confirmed instances of reprisal at the DFC.

Last December, Congress wrote to the DFC expressing concerns regarding reports of retaliation from bank against whistleblowers and union organising activity.

“I can’t believe someone can be fired in a country like the US for defending human rights,” said Emmanuel Umpula, executive director of African Resources Watch, a monitor group based in Congo.

Umpula said the DRC needs better infrastructure, including roads. He also wants business to come to Congo, where most of the population lives on less than $2.15 a day despite the country’s massive mineral wealth.

But he said development should be done in ways that minimise adverse impacts to local communities and the environment.

“It is critical that DFC management respects employees’ organizing and whistleblower rights, and we urge you to investigate and address these concerning allegations as soon as possible,” according to the letter dated December 12, 2023, and addressed to Scott Nathan, DFC’s Chief Executive.

“Additionally, we have received reports of retaliation against employees, including union officers, for engaging in labour organising activities that are legally protected under the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute. Not only would such retaliation be illegal, but such actions would also fly in opposition to the Biden Administration’s stated goal of being the most pro-labour Administration in history.”

DFC is an America’s development bank that partners with the private sector to finance solutions to the most critical challenges that currently face the developing world while adhering to high standards and respect the environment, human rights, and worker rights.

It also invests across various sectors including energy, healthcare, critical infrastructure, and technology projects and provides financing for small businesses and women entrepreneurs in order to create jobs in emerging markets.

“I can’t believe someone can be fired in a country like the US for defending human rights,” said Emmanuel Umpula, executive director of African Resources Watch, based in Congo.

Umpula said the DRC needs better infrastructure, including roads. He also wants business to come to Congo, where most of the population lives on less than $2.15 a day despite the country’s massive mineral wealth.

At DFC, a rush to cut deals abroad is fuelling tension inside the agency and threatening to undermine protections for the overseas communities the agency is supposed to uplift.

The US funds would have helped finance the Congolese project as the US more aggressively counter’s China’s influence in Africa and scrambles to secure access to electric vehicle supply chains.

DFC — with a mission of stimulating private investment in what it terms the ‘developing world’ through loans and other means — is seen by Congress as a keyway to respond to China.

A DFC official declined to discuss personnel matters at the agency but wrote to Pogo that “DFC strictly prohibits retaliation and has strong measures in place to prevent it from taking place.”

He also said that it thoroughly assesses the risks with every investment it considers.

DR Congo and its southern Copper Belt is the source of 70 percent of the world’s cobalt, used to make rechargeable lithium-ion batteries that power smartphones, laptops, and other technology deeply woven into the modern economy.

The 184km, reportedly $850 million Kasomeno–Mwenda toll road is aimed at enhancing access to those mines. The project continues to move forward without DFC’s involvement.